Saturday, 16 March, 2024 , 20:06
Between February and April each year, hundreds of impoverished Syrians risk their lives searching for truffles in the vast Syrian desert, or Badia -- a known hideout for jihadists that is also littered with mines.
Nineteen civilians, including 12 women, were killed and several others were wounded when their small truck hit a mine in an area where Islamic State group (IS) extremists are present in Raqa province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based Observatory said the truck was carrying more than 20 civilians who were searching for desert truffles, which fetch high prices in a country battered by 13 years of war and a crushing economic crisis.
Recent weeks have seen repeated deadly mine blasts as Syrians hunt for truffles.
Authorities have frequently warned against the high-risk practice.
Earlier this month, gunmen thought to be linked to IS killed 18 people, mostly civilians, in a desert attack on a group of truffle hunters, the Observatory had reported.
Last month, state media said a landmine left by IS killed 14 people foraging for truffles in the Raqa desert.
In March 2019, the jihadist group lost its last scraps of territory in Syria following a military campaign backed by a US-led coalition, but remnants continue to hide in the desert and launch deadly attacks.
They have ambushed civilians as well as Kurdish-led forces, Syrian government troops and pro-Iran fighters, while also mounting attacks in neighbouring Iraq.